If there was one time that could safely be called the busiest of the entire school day, it would undoubtedly be the lunch hour. Here, when the school bell had rung and the classroom doors burst open, students from all over Canterlot High would pour out in droves, eager to get to the cafeteria to meet up with their various friends and cliques, as they did every day. Today was no exception, and before long, that very cafeteria was abuzz with the sounds of near two hundred students chatting away with one another. But, amidst all the different groups that could be found here today, one table bore three particular students for whom the school had a rather noteworthy history. The Dazzlings, aka, the Sirens of Equestria. Adagio Dazzle, Aria Blaze and Sonata Dusk. All three of the Siren sisters were busying themselves with their respective lunches at this moment, with Sonata especially wolfing hers down with great enthusiasm.

“Unf! Tus ish wrilly gud!”

To that, Adagio turned to her with a raised eyebrow.

“Sonata, how many times do I have to tell you not to talk with your mouth full?”

Swallowing, Sonata frowned at that.

“Hmph! Pinkie doesn’t mind it!”

Adagio rolled her eyes.

“Maybe not, but she’s not here, is she?”

Sonata turned to her lunch, grumbling about the restrictions placed upon her by her sister. As for Aria, she just sat in-between the other two, as usual, casually poking her lunch with a fork and not really seeming all that excited about it. Had her sisters looked to her, they’d have noticed this more-than-average level of apathy in her, but, they soon found themselves paying attention instead to someone who only now arrived at their table. Looking to all three of them with a smile, it was none other than Sunset Shimmer, who, like them, was a native Equestrian. Clearing her throat, she caught their attention immediately.

“Mind if I join you?”

To that, Adagio shrugged her shoulders.

“Knock yourself out, dear.”

But, before she accepted that invitation, the former student of Celestia took a step to one side, revealing that, there, standing behind her, was another girl. With her hair kept up in a bun and adjusting her spectacles in a nervous manner, this youth was Twilight Sparkle, formerly of Crystal Prep. Noticing this second arrival, Sonata began to smile widely.

“Hiya, Twilight!”

Chuckling slightly, Twilight afforded the Siren a small wave.

“Um…hello.”

Sunset, smiling warmly to the girl, gestured to a nearby chair, and Twilight nodded in response. Without a word, the two took their respective seats, sitting opposite from where Adagio and her sisters were. Once there, Adagio leaned forward slightly, looking to Twilight with a raised eyebrow.

“So, enjoying your time here thus far?”

Twilight looked to the elder Siren, smiling and giving a brief nod.

“Oh! Yes, it’s wonderful here. So much less…regimental than Crystal Prep.”

Nodding, Adagio swept aside some of her copious orange hair before replying to that.

“Well, I hope you enjoy it here. It may have taken a while for my sisters and I, but I confess the place has rather grown on us somewhat.”

Hearing that, Sunset looked to her former rival with a smile. No words passed between them, but the Siren and ex-unicorn gave each other a knowing glance, eventually leading to a nod between them. Twilight looked from one to the other, not quite sure what was going on, but nevertheless decided to keep quiet. Instead, she turned to Aria, who had remained silent during all this. Although her expression clearly gave the impression of wanting to be left in peace, Twilight, apparently not having picked up on that, spoke to her all the same.

“So…Aria, right? How…how are things with you?”

The middle Siren sister looked up, raising an eyebrow, before giving a brief grunt.

“Fine, I guess.”

Twilight seemed a little taken aback by that, only to look to Adagio once more as she spoke.

“You’ll have to forgive my sister, Twilight. She’s never been the friendliest of Sirens.”

To that, Sonata turned to her older sister with a big smile.

“That’d be me, right, Dagi?”

Adagio rolled her eyes somewhat before replying.

“Yes, yes, Sonata.”

Twilight let out a brief giggle at this interaction, only to stop when something else caught her eye afterwards. Her gaze became fixed upon something behind where the three Sirens were sitting, which caught not only their attention, but also Sunset’s. After a while, the former Crystal Prep student finally broke the silence.

“Huh…I think there’s some boys over there who seem a bit…erm…interested in you.”

Sunset turned to see where Twilight was looking, and sure enough, as she’d said, there was indeed a collection of boys on a table some ways away from them who were giving the Dazzlings looks. And those expressions made it clear that “interested” was an understatement, as some in their number would not have been amiss with flashing hearts in their eyes. However, when they noticed that Twilight and Sunset were staring at them, they soon turned their attention over to their own lunches, hoping beyond hope to go unnoticed. But, rather than go over there, the two girls sat where they were, watching as Adagio let out a brief chuckle.

“Oh, I assure you, it’s nothing to write home about, Twilight. After all, when you’ve spent as long as we have getting others’ attention…it sort of becomes second nature.”

To that, Twilight gained a look of slight confusion, prompting Sunset to lean over and attempt an explanation.

“Trust me on this, Twilight. You should have seen them before they turned good. This school did not know sex appeal came that intense until these three turned up.”

Looking to her, Adagio frowned slightly.

“I promise you, Sunset dear, our appeal has not diminished in the slightest, good or otherwise.”

Again, a knowing smirk passed between the two older girls, and all the while, Twilight looked from one to the other before starting to develop a slight blush upon her cheeks.

“Oh…um…that’s…nice?”

Shaking her head in a desperate attempt to get those kinds of thoughts out of her, Twilight turned once more to Aria.

“It must be nice, getting that kind of attention all the time.”

To that, Aria scoffed a little.

“Sure. Whatever.”

Hearing that, Twilight looked a little unsure, turning to Sunset.

“Um…was it something I said?”

Shrugging her shoulders, Sunset looked to Aria with a frown.

“Something bugging you?”

Looking to Sunset, Aria narrowed her eyes a little before replying.

“You tell me. Notice anything about those guys back there?”

Needless to say, Sunset was a little confused by this, but nevertheless began to look over to where the earlier boys were. Like before, they were once more staring at the Dazzlings. However, while she, at first, didn’t really notice anything that might upset Aria, Sunset, over time, began to take note of something odd. From where she was sitting, it appeared as if the guys over there were giving a great deal of attention over to Adagio, and even to Sonata. But as for Aria, while she’d occasionally get a glance or two, she was comparatively less of a focus.

“Huh,” Sunset remarked.

To that, Aria nodded.

“Exactly.”

Sunset gave her a look, seeing that same annoyed expression on her face, and decided that it might be best not to press the issue. However, to her irritation, Adagio had not felt that way, and turned to her sister with a slight smirk.

“Awww! Is our sister feeling left out?”

Aria gave a scowl to her older sibling.

“Well it’s not like you've ever had anything to worry about, Adagio! Everywhere we went in this world, it’s always been you and Sonata getting all the lusty looks. But me? It’s like I’m not even there most of the time! Only when we had magic and could enchant people with our songs did anyone ever look at me that way!”

Aria then turned to Sonata, looking equally as annoyed.

“Those times I did get some fans of my own, it was only when you two already had more than you knew what to do with!”

Sonata, not worried by the clear anger her sister was displaying, instead looked past her and to Adagio.

“Huh. I never noticed that. Is that true, Dagi?”

Considering that, Adagio shrugged her shoulders.

“Perhaps. You’ve got that whole sweet and innocent thing going, and I, naturally, get attention because of…well…all this.”

In that typical Adagio way of hers, she struck a pose while sitting, earning her more than a few eye-rolls from those around her. Aria, by contrast, kept her gaze firmly on the elder Siren.

“Oh sure! It’s all well and good for Adagio, right? Always the centre of attention! Whoop-de-doo!”

And with that, she let out a snort of anger, looking down at her lunch with fury. As for everyone else, they all passed nervous glances to each other, now fully feeling the awkwardness that had set into their little gathering. That is, except for Adagio, who regarded her angry sister carefully. After a while, she let out a sigh before reaching over and giving her a playful pat on the head.

“Oh, Aria. If you really wanted that kind of attention, you should have just said so. I know just the thing to get you out of this funk.”

Looking to her, Aria swatted her sister’s hand away before raised an eyebrow.

“Oh yeah? And what would that be?”

Smirking, Adagio gave her answer.

“Why, a boyfriend of course!”

Silence fell after those words, during which, the girls all reacted in several ways. Sunset seemed incredulous, Twilight bearing another full-grown blush, Sonata clasping her hands and squealing with joy, and Aria herself keeping her eyebrow fully raised before letting out a dry chuckle.

“Oh, of course! Get a boyfriend! Why didn’t I think of that?”

With Aria’s sarcasm as clear as day, Adagio frowned somewhat.

“There’s no need for that, sister.”

But Aria rolled her eyes again.

“Adagio, if getting a guy to be with me was that easy, I wouldn’t be having this problem in the first place, now would I?”

Adagio chuckled a little before answering that.

“My dear sister. I’m not suggesting you do this yourself. After all, you’ve always had difficulty with that attitude of yours. Plus, our…well…failed take-over probably hasn’t earned us many admirers…aside from hormonal teenagers of course.”

Slumping back into her chair, Aria folded her arms.

“So…my sisters are gonna get me a boyfriend? Sure, that's not depressing in the slightest.”

But, before Adagio could respond to that second bout of sarcasm, Sunset beat her to it.

“You know…you might be onto something, Adagio.”

As one would expect, this caused all heads to turn in Sunset’s direction, with Aria especially looking incredulous.

“Seriously? You’re going along with this? I’m not some petty girl who needs a guy in her life to feel better.”

Sunset looked to her in a serious manner.

“I know you’re not. But you’re clearly bothered by the fact that your sisters get all that kind of attention more than you. If you had someone special, at least who’d want to go on a few dates or something, it’ll at least show that you’re not being ignored.”

Aria scoffed at that.

“Oh yeah? Good luck with that.”

Sunset opened her mouth, only to be stopped when Twilight began to speak up herself.

“Um…if you’re going to do this, finding her someone special, would it…er…be okay for me to write up about it?”

Looking to her, Sunset raised an eyebrow.

“What? Why?”

Poking her index fingers against one another, Twilight began to meekly answer.

“Well…I’m still new to a lot of this, and if I know ahead of time that someone is going to get herself a boyfriend, it might help me if I were to take a few notes.”

For a moment, Sunset looked a bit concerned.

“…Twilight? This isn’t going to be another study, is it?”

To that, Twilight frantically shook her hands in a defensive posture.

“Oh no! I think we all know how well that went last time. This is just…curiosity.”

Watching this back-and-forth, Aria slapped her forehead in frustration.

“Ugh! This is so humiliating!”

But to her chagrin, she soon found Sonata moving forward to hug her tightly.

“Don’t worry, Ari! By the time we’re done, you’ll have yourself the sweetest, most loving guy we can find you! Won’t that be fun?”

Looking to her bubbly sister, Aria let out a sigh, speaking in her usual dismissive tone.

“Oh sure, letting others get me a guy because I can’t get one on my own. I can just feel the joy already.”

“Yay! That's the spirit!” Sonata answered.